More than 9,000 Rutgers University faculty members to strike
NEW BRUNSWICK, New Jersey (WABC) -- After no agreement was reached, more than 9,000 Rutgers University union members will strike for the first time in the school's history.
Three unions representing educators, researchers, and clinicians will go on strike Monday morning at 9 a.m. after no agreement was made on a new contract after nearly a year of bargaining. The unions represent full-time faculty, adjunct professors -- who must reapply for their job every semester no matter how long they've been teaching at Rutgers, grad students who do not receive a living wage, and clinical workers at the health facilities.
The strike will affect all three campuses of Rutgers in New Brunswick, Newark, and Camden. It also marks the first-ever strike for the 257-year-old public university.
Union leadership bodies met Sunday evening on Zoom to take a formal vote on calling a strike.
The unions say that members have been working without a contract for 10 months now.
"We are beautiful. Powerful. And right where we need to be," said faculty member Todd Wolfson.
The general vice president for one of the unions says some progress has been made with Rutgers so far but that the needs of some of the most vulnerable workers still aren't being met.
Rutgers University president Jonathan Holloway released a statement saying in part,
"As you may know, after several months of trying to negotiate new contracts with several of our employee unions, the leadership of our faculty/academic unions have called for a strike at Rutgers, beginning on Monday morning, April 10, 2023.
To say that this is deeply disappointing would be an understatement, especially given that just two days ago, both sides agreed in good faith to the appointment of a mediator to help us reach agreements. We have all been hard at work trying to resolve issues around compensation, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment. For the past several weeks, negotiations have been constant and continuous. Significant and substantial progress has been made, as I have noted, and I believe that there are only a few outstanding issues. We will, of course, negotiate for as long as it takes to reach agreements and will not engage in personal attacks or misinformation."
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